Marketing your Apps – Advertising SDKs (2)

After following the Ads appearing as a result o implementing the SMAATO Advertising SDK (see my previous Blog post) I noticed that there were many times when an advertisement was not available (this behaviour throws up an error which can be trapped and monitored) Apparently this is a fairly common occurrence which obviously results in loss of revenue. I looked at what might be done to mitigate this and came across another SDK from ‘Aldar IT’ that allows more than one ad provider. Replacing the SDK was a surprisingly painless operation, with the most work being in registering for the additional providers.

The implementation process is similar to that used in the previous SMAATO control but with the option to easily add additional providers.

The providers currently supported are:

Admob (Google Beta)

Smaato

ZestADZ

MobFox

Implementing the control is straightforward, firstly referencing the provided DLL and embedding the required namespaces at the top of the page:

Then adding the control itself, embedding the keys obtained while registering with each provider:

You can also give each provider a priority should you wish to favour one over the other (it might be that you have been able to negotiate a better rate with one of the providers). Should the first provider not be able to supply an Add , the second provider will be called and so on. There is also an option to add your own provider (EG to advertise your other apps?) although I have not done so in this instance.

There is an additional DLL that provides advertisers with location information – this can result in increased revenues but has the downside of having to use the location elements of the Phone SDK with their associated User Notification and interaction requirements. I chose not to do this at this stage.

I have been questioned as to why this technical article falls under the ‘marketing my apps’ banner. The simple answer is that it has been categorically proven that a free App will be downloaded many more times than it’s trial / paid equivalent. Using advertising enables you to offer your app for free, effectively increases revenue and download numbers (as well as increasing marketing of your other apps should you have followed the advice given here)

NB You can see an example of this control working in version 1.2 of the following free App: